The Top Ten Movies of 1986
Whether you’re Gen X, Gen Y, or an old millennial, chances are you have some nostalgia for the films of the 1980s. Previously in our “Best of the 6s” series we’ve looked at Flickchart’s Top Ten Movies from 1966, 1946, and 1996, and now it’s 1986’s turn. The list is remarkably diverse, including teen comedies, Japanese animation, horror, and drama. As always, we have our below-the-radar favorites, too, and we’d love to see your personal Top Ten from 1986 in the comments below.
10. Down by Law
Down by Law is a curious prison break film that concerns itself more with the characters than with the details of the escape. The three escapees are a collection of misfits played brilliantly by Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni making his American film debut. One might easily imagine that director Jim Jarmusch saw them interacting at a party and wrote the movie with them in mind — in fact, Jarmusch is good friends with Waits and Lurie, developed their characters based on his relationship with them, and allowed his actors to improvise much of the movie. Waits and Lurie are musicians by trade, and the music of the film consists of a score by Lurie with songs by Waits. Filmed by cinematographer Robby Müller in black and white on location in New Orleans and Louisiana bayous, the film has the look of noir but plays more as an indie comedy than a serious crime thriller. (Jarmusch describes it as a “neo-beat-noir-comedy.”) Down by Law is a modern day, metaphorical fairy tale of unlucky oddballs. Its delightful meandering subverts genre tropes even as it draws inspiration from them. — Ben Shoemaker
- Global ranking: 605
- 756 users have ranked it
- Wins 60% of matchups
- 7 users have it at #1
- 37 have it in their top 20
9. The Fly
There are two films when I was growing up that introduced me to the delightful world of body horror. The first, An American Werewolf in London, features the most grueling transformation into the lupine form that I dare imagine. Plus, a slowly decomposing Griffin Dunne. Those images lingered with me for five years before I caught David Cronenberg’s The Fly on cable. (I saw Videodrome in between, but that was only an hors d’oeuvre before the main course.) While David Naughton’s transformation looked painful, Jeff Goldblum’s was both painful and gross. Even Griffin Dunne rotting away wasn’t on the same level as Goldblum becoming one with an insect. The most horrifying scene, however, has to be when Geena Davis gives birth to a maggot in a nightmare. Or when Goldblum barfs up digestive fluid on a guy. Great stuff. — Chad Hoolihan
- Global ranking: 586
- 12935 users have ranked it
- Wins 47% of matchups
- 16 users have it at #1
- 334 have it in their top 20
8. Big Trouble in Little China
There are few movies that are more fun than Big Trouble in Little China, as long as you recognize how much of it is a laugh. The movie was considered something of a flop in ’86, partly due to its competition with Ghostbusters, and partly because the use of martial arts tropes and Chinese cultural references in a movie led by Kurt Russell made people think the joke was on China. They couldn’t have missed the mark more widely: Russell’s Jack Burton is a perfect send-up of ill-conceived ’80s action stars, comedically stumbling around while his friends serve as the actual heroes of the movie. Burton is constantly asking what things are, who people are, what’s going on, and in the climactic battle sequence he’s as close to useless as can be. The aesthetic of the movie is top-notch, and James Hong’s Lo Pan is one of his most memorable characters. All of it comes together for a big delight in a little package. — Alex Christian Lovendahl
- Global ranking: 422
- 11616 users have ranked it
- Wins 50% of matchups
- 36 users have it at #1
- 449 have it in their top 20
7. Blue Velvet
Though David Lynch more firmly made his reputation on the acclaim of The Elephant Man and the widespread popularity of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet was perhaps the first film to fully develop the ideas that would define Lynch’s career. Between the precocious young attracted to danger, the seedy underbelly of crime and abuse in a sleepy town, and the dream-like theatricality of a terrifying other, Blue Velvet is more recognizably “Lynchian” than even his avant-garde debut Eraserhead. The lead performance from Kyle MacLachlan delivers a nostalgic, Hardy Boys-like character required for the movie to build on, it’s Isabella Rosselini and Dennis Hopper who give Blue Velvet its requisite darkness. It’s no surprise that Blue Velvet is comparatively low on this list; it’s so supremely strange that audiences will always find it more divisive than something like Aliens. Blue Velvet has the distinction of being perhaps the most disagreed-with one-star review by Roger Ebert, who loathed it. Yet Lynch fans will always embrace it. — Alex
- Global ranking: 346
- 160641 users have ranked it
- Wins 51% of matchups
- 67 users have it at #1
- 814 have it in their top 20
6. Castle in the Sky
Castle in the Sky, the first official Studio Ghibli movie, remains one of animator Hayao Miyazaki’s most popular films inside Japan. It introduced one of his most iconic and merchandised characters: not the boy adventurer Pazu or the princess-in-distress Sheeta, but the tall, long-limbed, voiceless robot guardians of the floating garden island Laputa. Castle in the Sky‘s story progresses upward to this emerald destination, starting in Pazu’s dusty, steampunk village and transitioning to futuristic, mid-air dogfights before arriving at the fantastical title location. Miyazaki’s script uses tropes familiar to fans of his work, anime, and fantasy in general — young lovers, pirates, magical amulets — but the climactic shots of Castle in the Sky have few parallels for sheer, hand-drawn Arcadian fantasy. Laputa is an Eden of glimmering lawns, tangled roots, and frolicking fox-squirrels, tended by the gentle but powerful robots. It is both future and past idealized, but it is eerily empty of humans, as Miyazaki believes a paradise must be. He allows even us, the viewers, only brief glimpses of Laputa in its glory. This sort of careful, restrained world-building that encourages beautiful ideas suggested on-screen to take root and grow in the mind is characteristic of Miyazaki’s work. — David Conrad
- Global ranking: 293
- 2868 users have ranked it
- Wins 55% of matchups
- 19 users have it at #1
- 188 have it in their top 20
5. Hannah and Her Sisters
Woody Allen’s films fall into two main categories: comedies with cheerfully upbeat endings, and dramas in which tragedy overtakes many of the characters. There’s not a lot of crossover, but Hannah and Her Sisters is one of the rare ones, and one of his greatest. It’s a drama, though it has plenty of comedic moments, but it’s warm-hearted and treats it characters kindly as it probes their psyches. The acting is terrific, particularly from Mia Farrow, whose roles in Allen’s films constitute some of her most diverse and interesting work. The story unfolds as a series of ensemble vignettes rather than following a simple A plot and B plot structure, but ensemble stories can fall apart quickly if the characters aren’t well-conceived enough to grab our attention in the short amount of time we have with them. Hannah’s characters are, and we leave the film wishing we had a little bit more time with them, but knowing that the ending we got was the right one. This film is sometimes unbalanced by decisions from Allen that fall more clearly on one side or the other of the comedy/drama line, but its appearance on this Best of 1986 list is a sign that it resonates with a lot of viewers. — Hannah “And Her Sisters” Keefer
- Global ranking: 266
- 2989 users have ranked it
- Wins 53% of matchups
- 15 users have it at #1
- 146 have it in their top 20
4. Platoon
Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War classic, the Best Picture winner of 1986, combines the sweltering madness of Apocalypse Now with the interpersonal drama of The Deer Hunter. Yet where those movies are melancholic and somber, Stone’s is anguished and bitter. Stone was a Vietnam veteran, and his dramatization of the conflict had been percolating at least since he saw John Wayne’s triumphalist piece of propaganda The Green Berets. Unlike that movie, and to a greater extent than Coppola and Cimino’s darker takes, Stone’s film highlights the criminality, the drug-fueled fratricidal impulses, and what Stone calls the “visceral” atmosphere that for many participants and observers were the Vietnam War’s hallmarks. In addition to its implicit dialogues with other Vietnam movies, Platoon serves film fans a buffet of big-name actors: Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp all appear, and both Berenger and Dafoe received Best Supporting Actor nominations. — David
- Global ranking: 225
- 38623 users have ranked it
- Wins 54% of matchups
- 178 users have it at #1
- 3145 have it in their top 20
3. Stand By Me
In a wide world of Stephen King adaptions, Stand By Me stands (heh) apart. Eight years before The Shawshank Redemption taught audiences that King had written more than just horror thriller stories, this Rob Reiner-directed film made a mark for not just the director but the entire cast. Stand By Me tells a timeless story of male companionship and adolescence as it follows four boys who go hiking through the wilds of Oregon in search of the body of a dead child.
The impact of the four main performances owes something to the direction of Reiner, who draws powerful and moving performances from the talented cast. In the 1980s, child actors weren’t always as professional as they are now, but Wil Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell, Corey Feldman, and the late River Phoenix make for a convincing group of friends. Phoenix’s performance is the most noteworthy, and is all the more poignant given what happened to him. The flashback scenes to his brother, played by the highly talented John Cusack, thrust plenty of the emotional weight of the film upon him. Outside the main group, Kiefer Sutherland makes for an effective antagonist; his feral nature reflects what the boys could become. Like Sutherland’s character, each of the boys suffers from family issues or bullying. Their potential for darkness makes their bond all the more important, and their journey together is something many can relate to: it recalls those summers with your friends when you began to realize the world isn’t perfect; that sweat that dripped down your brow in a burning mid-July heat; the hopes, dreams, and fears of youth.
Though often overshadowed by King adaptions like The Shining, Stand By Me is notable as the first film that King felt successfully captured the spirit of his novel. Stand By Me conjures memories of your days as a 12-year-old rolling in the dirt and biking in the summer sun. Revisit it some time to bring a tear of warm remembrance to your eye. — Connor Ryan Adamson
- Global ranking: 109
- 54775 users have ranked it
- Wins 57% of matchups
- 480 users have it at #1
- 7844 have it in their top 20
2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
When I first watched this movie, I found myself drawn to it not because I wanted to be Ferris, but because I knew that I was 100% a Cameron. I found myself wondering what my life would have been like if I’d had a Ferris-ian friend to drag my begrudging self along on bizarre adventures. Today, as an adult, I watch the movie and am struck by the irresistible, gleeful air of irresponsibility. As a Cameron, I know the feeling of thinking that what you’re doing could be done better, should be done differently, and perhaps must not be done at all, and it’s easy to get stuck there. This movie reminds me that, yes, you can hide in bed with your covers over your head, but you can also jump on a float and lip-sync to “Twist and Shout,” even if you’re chased out of the stadium. The solution is somewhere between Ferris and Cameron, and also to “stop and look around once in a while.” That message is surely why this movie sits at #2 on Flickchart’s 1986 list. Sometimes the most important ideas come couched in slapstick and witty banter. — Hannah
- Global ranking: 53
- 68021 users have ranked it
- Wins 62% of matchups
- 618 users have it at #1
- 11159 have it in their top 20
1. Aliens
Perhaps the king of all horror sequels, Aliens understands that its seminal predecessor had exhaustively explored the horrors its situation presented. Rather than trying to reiterate Alien‘s primal terror, Aliens broadens the focus. While more directly addressing concerns about corporate greed and motherhood, Aliens also multiplies its titular reapers and makes their threat an omnipresent infestation. A strong supporting cast including Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser, and Michael Biehn create enough of a crew for Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley to develop as a character. Aliens manages to tell a sequel story that finds new horror, new depths, and a new identity. — Alex
- Global ranking: 52
- 64058 users have ranked it
- Wins 63% of matchups
- 800 users have it at #1
- 11431 have it in their top 20
Blogger’s Choice:
Hannah: Little Shop of Horrors
This seems to be one of those musicals that even non-musical-lovers like, at least a little. For one thing, it has a fantastic cast. Rick Moranis and Steve Martin are perfect as the timid romantic lead and the sadistic dentist villain, respectively, and Ellen Greene, transported from the Broadway cast, plays a (somewhat) stereotypical damsel in distress with heart and warmth. The songs have funny, clever lyrics and are short enough that they don’t wear out their welcome. Most of all, the over-the-top B-movie nature of the plot is a draw. How can you not enjoy a movie about a singing killer plant from outer space trying to take over the world? The movie version manages a happier ending than its stage counterpart, but the menacing nature of the alien invaders isn’t played down at all. Little Shop of Horrors is one of the most successful movie musical adaptations out there, especially for a decade that didn’t have many good examples of the genre.
- Global ranking: 1276
- 10776 users have ranked it
- Wins 40% of matchups
- 9 users have it at #1
- 206 have it in their top 20
David: The Name of the Rose
Author Umberto Eco was the undisputed master of medieval mystery, and Jean-Jacques Annaud took no shortcuts when adapting Eco’s literary, labyrinthine text. In The Name of the Rose Sean Connery plays a kind of 14th-century Sherlock Holmes, and Christian Slater is a young novice fascinated by Connery’s proto-scientific investigative methods. The case at hand involves a series of murders at a remote Italian monastery, which is home to a significant library and host to an important Papal conference. If you’re intimidated by the idea of watching two hours of internecine religious and political debates, don’t worry; in addition to the always-charismatic Connery and a cast of recognizable faces like F. Murray Abraham and Ron Perlman, the movie is notable for an explicit sex scene midway through. For Eco devotees, though, the most impressive element of the film is something more prosaic: its location scouting. Eco’s monastery has a highly specific geographical and architectural configuration for which Annaud and his largely-Italian technical team found perfect real-world analogs. The location shooting under oppressive cloud cover was achieved by legendary Italian cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli (The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West.)
- Global ranking: 1058
- 2123 users have ranked it
- Wins 51% of matchups
- 0 users have it at #1
- 50 have it in their top 20
Alex: Mauvais sang
Mauvais sang is one of the best under-ranked movies on Flickchart; a grand total of 43 users have charted it, yet it wins 56% of its match-ups and is explicitly referenced in movies like Frances Ha and Buzzard. Its director, Leos Carax, has only made five feature films. One, The Lovers on the Bridge, is part of Scott Tobias’s “The New Cult Canon,” and the most recent, Holy Motors, was one of the most divisive (yet ardently beloved) movies of 2012. Mauvais sang‘s lead actors, Denis Lavant and Juliette Binoche, turn in astounding performances amid elements of crime, science fiction, and romance. Think of this as a combination of Only Lovers Left Alive, Breathless, and Before Sunrise. It’s a bizarre and delightful movie, shot beautifully, and I can’t recommend it more highly.
- Global ranking: 8455
- 43 users have ranked it
- Wins 56% of matchups
- 1 user has it at #1
- 2 have it in their top 20 (including Alex)
Connor: Pretty in Pink
Everyone knows Sixteen Candles. Everyone knows Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Everyone knows The Breakfast Club. What sometimes gets left out of the conversation is Pretty in Pink. Granted, Pretty in Pink is one of the rare Molly Ringwald-starring teen films that wasn’t directed by John Hughes. It instead was directed by Howard Deutch, who made his debut with this feature. Despite the lack of Hughes’s direction, the film has a John Hughes script and his influence is felt throughout. Pretty in Pink is the story of Andie Walsh (Ringwald), who earns the affections of the upper-class Blane (Andrew McCarthy). Their relationship upsets the social order of their high school, since Andie comes from a poorer part of town and is looked down on by the wealthier kids. While perhaps cliche, the revelation that Blane’s affections for her are insincere and it is, in fact, her best friend Duckie who truly loves her still works. This could be attributed to the strong performances from Molly Ringwald and Jon Cryer. Ringwald played the same character in most of her films, but it’s a character she plays well. She is never so much of an outcast that she becomes impossible to relate to, but she pulls off an underdog sensibility that Americans and teens relate to. Ringwald knows how to make emotions real and visceral, and Cryer captures a similar spirit on the male side, with a cutesy and pining love for Ringwald.
Other strong performances come from James Spader and Harry Dean Stanton. Spader’s cool, selfish demeanor is a stereotype of the rich snobbishness that Hughes loves to call out. Stanton plays Ringwald’s down-on-his-luck father, providing a moral compass for Ringwald as she navigates the tribulations of teen life. For an ’80s twist on a classic romantic dynamic, don’t overlook Pretty in Pink.
- Global ranking: 1224
- 4933 users have ranked it
- Wins 43% of matchups
- 13 users have it at #1
- 95 have it in their top 20 (including Alex)
I’ve seen 4.
My #1 of all time is 1986’s Jean de Florette. It’s companion piece Manon des Sources, also called Manon of the Spring in English, is my #4 of all time. More people should watch this four hour epic French rural drama. It’s some of the most engrossing story telling you can imagine. The French Godfather, if you will.
I love those movies, especially Manon. My relationship with Eco’s works is really strong, otherwise I might have highlighted Berri’s duology for my Blogger Pick.
Big Trouble in Little China was by far the best 1986 movie Imo.
Aliens in a not-so-close second.
Seriously, BTiLC was probably the funniest movie I’ve ever watched. Carpenter rules.
The ’80s aren’t my favorite decade, but I do have several from 1986 I love. Here’s my Top Twenty – I probably live the top 7 or 8. Manon du Sources should be higher. I literally just watched Stand by Me last night!